Diabetes and your pet - 2 - Symptoms of Diabetes

Clinical signs of Diabetes Mellitus

• Drinking more and urinating more (polydypsyia and polyuria); this is the major sign of diabetes and the one most owners notice first. However, it is not exclusive to Diabetes, and can be caused by many other problems.

An animal should drink about 50ml of water per kilo of body weight per day. If you are concerned about your pets water intake, measure it over a few days and take the figure to your vet, along with a urine sample.

• Weight loss - This does not occur in all cases, but as the body cannot use the sugar in the food for fuel, as it is trapped in the blood by a lack of insulin, it has to burn its own resources, which are its fat reserves. Weight loss can occur despite a normal or increased appetite.
  
• Increased appetite ( polyphagia); again, this doesn't occur in all cases. As the body is unable to extract the sugar from the diet, it is effectively starving, therefore some diabetic animals become frantically hungry as the body is desperate to gain nutrition from the food.
• Cataracts - cataracts occur when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy, and causes the eye to become blind. They tend to occur only when the diabetes has been present for some time, and often occur despite treatment. They are far more common in dogs than cats.
• Urinary tract infections (Cystitis); these are generally only uncovered when the vet takes a urine sample, as they are often symptom free. Diabetic animals have very high levels of sugar in their urine, which makes it a very easy place for bacteria to grow and set up an infection.
• Plantigrade stance - This is a symtom occasionally seen in cats and is caused by 'Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy'. The nerves to the hocks of the back legs become weak and the cat starts to walk with its back legs sunken to the ground. It is normally reversible once the Diabetes has been treated.

This cat is showing a classic plantigrade stance. It has 'sunk down' on its back legs and is unable to straighten them.. It can still walk.

Diagnosing Diabetes Mellitus

• Blood tests - these are the mainstay of diagnosis in Diabetes, your vet will be looking for raised levels of sugar (glucose) in your pets blood stream. There may be other changes as well, for example liver changes - this is due to the liver being under stress because it is primarily responsible for breaking down the bodies tissue when the sugar cannot be used. Most liver changes are reversible once the diabetes is treated.

Normal animals will have blood sugar levels between 5-9mmol/l. Diabetic animals can have levels greater than 20mmol/l

• Urine tests - the presence of sugar in the urine is what confirms the diagnosis of DM. Also, it is common for animals to have urinary tract infections, which will show up on the urine tests. Sugar does not generally appear in the urine until the blood levels are greater than 15mmol/l.
  
• Clinical signs - the clincial signs listed above are very typical of DM, and these, together with blood and urine tests, will confirm DM is present.